O… M… G. These are the best doughnuts that I’ve ever made. Ever.
I’ve made a lot of baked doughnuts and I’m a tough critic. I suppose it’s because a baked doughnut is not fried (duh) and in my mind and they’re just not the same. I refuse to own a fryer (because I don’t need more fatty temptations) so I’ve come to terms with the fact that baked doughnuts tend to look and taste like oddly shaped cakes.
In comparing these doughnuts to all the others I’ve made (some on the blog and some that weren’t good enough to make the blog), they are the bomb dot com for several reasons. The cake is moist and dense, unlike some other cake doughnut recipes that are spongy. Spongy is not a bad thing most of the time, but it really doesn’t play nice with glaze. These also have a hint of nutmeg to make the vanilla cake so not boring.
The glaze is delicious and it actually stayed on the outside of the doughnut, meaning that it didn’t soak into the cake and make the cake soggy. Gah, just look at that glaze! I finally got a glaze to “work” correctly! You have no idea how excited that makes me.
And the crumbs… oh the crumbs. I think they speak for themselves, don’t you? As a heads up, many of the crumbs will fall off when you stuff your face. That would annoy me, but because these doughnuts are so stellar that it honestly doesn’t. I either squish my doughnut onto the crumbs that fell on my plate, or I take a spoon and eat them by the spoonful at the end, or both. The crumbs are always the best part and I save the best for last. 🙂
Can you start to see why these doughnuts are the best I’ve made? When you combine the awesome cake, delicious glaze, and amazing crumbs together you’ve got yourself one heck of a doughnut. In fact, I think these cake doughnuts are better than many real (fried) doughnuts. Yup, they are that good.
These doughnuts are a fantastic take on Entenmann’s classic crumb donuts. My family are all huge fans of Entenmann’s, especially my dad. Who wouldn’t be because everything they make is delicious? I made these for my dad (but my mom, hubby and I also took part in enjoying them). I wish you could have seen the expression on his face when I presented these doughnuts to him. Priceless.
We all enjoyed every last crumb, literally. Usually when I bring goodies to someone’s house we leave any leftovers behind. Not this time. I took one back home with me. One?! What was I thinking? Now I have to share it with my husband? Well, I let him have the entire doughnut. I love him that much. 🙂
Crumb Doughnuts Recipe
(makes 6 doughnuts)
Ingredients for the crumb topping:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (equivalent to 3 ounces)
Ingredients for the doughnuts:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (equivalent to 4.2 ounces)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/2 cup sour cream (You can use Greek yogurt instead.)
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ingredients for the glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk (I used 1%.)
Directions for the crumb topping:
- In a saucepan, over Low heat, melt the butter. (DO NOT try to take a short cut and use the microwave instead. Since you add the crumb topping AFTER the doughnuts have baked you need to cook the flour taste out of the crumb topping.)
- Add in the light brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt and stir everything together.
- Add in the flour and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool.
Directions for the doughnuts:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a doughnut pan and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. These are the dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, sour cream, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. These are the wet ingredients.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Don’t over mix the batter.
- Pour the batter evenly into the 6 greased doughnut cavities.
- Bake them for about 14 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean. (Mine took 13 minutes.)
- Let the doughnuts cool and then remove them from the pan.
- Get a wire rack and lay parchment paper or a cookie sheet underneath it. This is the prepping station for glazing and crumbing steps.
- Make sure they are cooled completely.
- Dunk the doughnuts into the glaze, covering the entire doughnut.
- Place the glazed doughnut onto the wire rack.
- Immediately sprinkle the crumb topping on top of the doughnut and gently press them down to help secure them.
- Let the doughnut stand until the glaze has set. Repeat steps 10 through 12 for each doughnut.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the doughnuts. (Optional, but not for me.)
- Try not to eat all 6 in one sitting.
Directions for the glaze:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and milk. Set it aside to use for when the doughnuts have cooled completely.
Every so slightly adapted from: Baking a Moment
These do look like E donuts! I prefer baked donuts because the fried ones always taste greasy. I can’t wait to make these. I do have a question and a request. First, the question. Can the crumbs be put on before baking, like a crumb cake? The request…can you try a chocolate crumb donut? Thanks, Tina.
I’ve not tried to bake the donuts with the crumbs. The source of this recipe said she tried baking the crumbs & she felt the crumbs came out too crunchy/hard. I stuck with the recipe she posted & am happy with it but if you try baking the crumbs let me know how you make out.
Mmm chocolate. I’ll try. 🙂
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
These donuts are delicious. I am just getting in to baking donuts. This recipe makes 6. If I want to make 12 donuts, is doubling this recipe ok or would it be best to do the recipe individually for 6 twice? (Some recipes don’t work well when doubled).
Hi Julie. I think doubling the recipe should work!